Paramount Theatre

Abilene, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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The Paramount Theatre, located at 352 Cypress Street in downtown Abilene, Texas, is a Mission Revival movie house designed by David S. Castle and built in 1930 by H. O. Wooten adjacent to his Hotel Wooten. Opening on May 19, 1930, with the film *Safety in Numbers*, the theatre gained early prestige when Universal Pictures selected it—alongside a few others in the Interstate Theatre chain—to exhibit *Dracula* on February 12, 1931, two days before the film's Valentine's Day premiere. The Paramount operated continuously until declining downtown business forced its closure in 1979. The Abilene Preservation League's Paramount Committee successfully prevented demolition by securing the building's place on the National Register of Historic Places, and restoration funded by Julia Matthews and the Dodge Jones Foundation was completed in 1986. The theatre's Spanish-Moorish interior features a domed ceiling with moving clouds and glittering stars, and accommodates 1,187 split-aisle seats. Today it presents films, live theatre productions, ballet, opera, and annual summer musicals cast with local amateur actors alongside professional musicians and designers.